Buses, Kegs, and Cranes: Visions of Radical Reuse from Architect Aristide Antonas
Geoff Manaugh, 8 Jun 10
[Image: "Crane Rooms and Keg Apartments" by Aristide Antonas].
Architect Aristide Antonas's Flickr set has long been a favorite of mine, as it thoroughly documents his work, which radically reuses existing structures and pieces of mobile industrial equipment, such as cranes, trucks, and buses. In fact, you might recognize his "Crane Rooms" project from ArchDaily.
His "Bus Hotel," for instance, is a double-decker bus transformed into a mobile, 7-bed hotel.
[Images: "Bus Hotel" by Aristide Antonas].
The "Keg Apartment," designed in collaboration with Katerina Koutsogianni, continues what Antonas calls his "stable vehicle" series. There, "existing transportation wagons of different types... form rooms that can still move or can function again as movable. They can be used as holiday rooms or as small office places."
[Images: "Keg Apartment" by Aristide Antonas and Katerina Koutsogianni].
His "Crane Rooms," mentioned earlier, deserve a look here—
[Images: "Crane Rooms" by Aristide Antonas and Katerina Koutsogianni].
—about which Antonas writes:
Simple concrete foundations and elementary water pools are proposed to be installed in non hospitable beaches or arid hills nearby the sea. The room units form independent cells, they can be covered by tissues during the day; they provide a quality connection to the Internet. The private or public character of each room is regulated by the chosen high of every unit. The high control system is located inside every room. Platforms go up and down following the will of every provisional inhabitant. A bigger screen, related to the bed, serves as a home cinema structure; a small office, a wardrobe and a shower are placed in the same moving platform. A common underground kitchen serves the needs of all the complex; a reverse osmosis desalination plant provides drinkable water to the invisible kitchen and to the units (the water pipes follow the length of the crane).
He also proposes the construction of a "Crane Room Hotel" in which a network of individual units "moving up and down provide summer shelters with changing views."
Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on BLDGBLOG. It has been edited to focus on Antonas's projects that envision radical reuse of buses, trucks and cranes.
"Eyesore" comes to mind with the crane house. I would rather make tree houses than use cranes which still require a lot of maintenance to ensure safety, and lots of oil and energy to operate - as opposed to a wooden ladder to just climb up and down.
Posted by: Kelly on 8 Jun 10
I agree with Kelly. I prefer designs that are integrated with the landscape. Might be OK for homeless people but they would be a blight on the landscape. Designs derived from recycling shipping containers make a lot more sense and are easier to make more aesthetic. Maybe not the novelty factor but make a lot more sense. These cranes and tanker trucks are a bit sophomoric and unimaginative.
Posted by: Phillip Greene on 8 Jun 10
Reminds me of the double decker I used to live in on a mountain in Wales. Vince, the owner, ran it as a bed and breakfast at festivals. There are a lot of us using various vehicles as mobile accomodation right now. Can't say I'd want to live in a tanker though.
Posted by: Nandor Tanczos on 8 Jun 10
I've lived in a bus a couple of times now for extended periods, raised my kids in one, and definitely prefer it to a house. ( Mine have not been so slick and modern though, I like wood and stained glass). It doesn't seem so novel to me, but as for the cranes, please don't ever add them to my landscape, they're pretty unattractive.
Posted by: Angela Fox on 17 Jun 10
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